NCsoft Europe, The Sun and charity Draw the World Together combine to offer another uniquely crafted PC competition prize! The PC case features unique artwork from Neil Edwards, a regular Draw the World Together artist. Neil’s work is very popular when he attends shows with us, and this unique PC case is sure to be just as popular!

To enter, simply visit The Sun’s competition page and answer a simple question. Entries close on Monday 28th July, and are open to United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland residents over the age of 18.

The Games Convention in Leipzig will be a blast, no question about it. It will however also be stressful for all of us. There’s an abundance of things to organize as exhibitors and our sow, press and media people are likely to have walked many miles combined after each day – going from one game demo or conference to the other. And the customers, who keep the industry alive and kicking, have to queue up for often all too long to play or see their respective most anticipated games at the show.

We have a solution.

There is a reason for the rejoicing in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. It is official - NCsoft has completely merged the two games into one game universe. All current subscribers who only had one of the games (City of Heroes or City of Villains) now have access to the features of both games. Additionally, all City of Heroes and City of Villains games for sale at retail or online will grant access to both games.

Starting on July 18th and continuing through the weekend, both Villains and Heroes will receive twice the value for pursuing evil deeds or arresting criminals.

Rally together as super teams and discuss how you will be spending your Double XP Weekend in this forum topic.

That’s right! We just added two brand new veteran badges to the Veteran Rewards system, for your own pleasure:

• 51 Months: Tried and True
• 54 Months: Allegiant

Check them out in detail on the Veteran Rewards page!

This summer NCsoft will be attending the Leipzig Games Convention, where players can meet the City of Heroes community team, win swag and go hands on with the hotly anticipated Aion: The Tower of Eternity. Yes, you read right… now read on to find out how.

The Daily Mirror has announced a City of Heroes competition to celebrate the launch of Issue 12: Midnight Hour. One lucky entrant will win their very own uniquely-crafted PC featuring unique artwork hand-painted by Andrew Wildman, one of the artists from the charity Draw the World Together who regularly attends events with us! Four runners-up will receive a free copy of City of Heroes.

Entries close Wednesday, June 25th, so get yours in for the chance to win this one-of-a-kind hand-painted PC!

Issue 12: Midnight Hour has arrived on the live servers and is now open! Immerse yourself in the new Midnight Squad storyline with a host of new missions, and experience Roman-style zone environments unlike anything you’ve seen in Paragon City™ or the Rogue Isles™.

For Villains, we introduce the all-new Villain Epic Archetypes: the Soldiers of Arachnos. Powerset Proliferation brings new powerset choices for all archetypes, and the list of overall gameplay and Quality of Life improvements is, well, lengthy! To see the full list of new features, updates and other changes in Issue 12: Midnight Hour, make sure to check out the patch notes.

In this in depth look at the creation of the new zone Cimerora, Ken Morse takes us behind the scenes and through the seven steps that brought Cimerora from concept to completion.

Local radio stations from the Big City network are now offering free trials to City of Heroes and City of Villains. This is the biggest ever free trial offer for the UK, so it has never been easier to get started on a career as a Hero in Paragon City or a Villain on the Rogue Isles!

Read on to find out how to get yours, or one for a friend…

The Midnight Squad is featured heavily in the next free expansion coming to City of Heroes and City of Villains - Issue 12: Midnight Hour. Make sure you know their history and goals before Issue 12 launches by watching the latest teaser trailer.

After much anticipation, the latest free expansion for City of Heroes / Villains is now entering its final testing phase. Issue 12: Midnight Hour Open Beta started this Tuesday on the Training Room and you can try it now! Please follow the instructions in this thread on how to download and play on the test server.

Also if during your testing you encounter bugs, please use the /bug command in-game to report them. Finally, you are welcome to give your feedback about the beta on our forums.

The full patch notes are available here

Enjoy!

The Student Zone is currently running a 2-weeks free trial for City of Heroes / Villains starting today! Please visit this page to get started on your journey to Paragon City or the Rogue Isles.

City of Heroes Lead Writer Joe Morrissey has put together a developer diary telling us about the Midnight Squad, a group of heroes that has appeared in past lore. The Midnight Squad makes their first appearance in Issue 12. Here’s a brief clip:

“So, why the Midnight Hour?”

The Midnight Squad takes the main focus of this issue. They’ve got some of the coolest history, yet hardly any of it has been opened up to the players. I choose the Midnight Squad because they were seriously crippled by the invasion and therefore were extremely motivated to take action against the Rikti. We did a lot with the Rikti story for Issue 10, but it was only through the single lens of the Vanguard. Now we see a second perspective, through the eyes of those hardest hit from the invasion, the Midnighters.

Click here to read the full article.